The Bear King
by lizzyleefree
Summary: How does King Fergus react to a special delivery to his castle? Father-daughter bonding time? Heck yes. A Texan author trying to weave Scottish colloquialism into the dialogue? Yes, there's some of that, too. Go ahead and have a read! note- I uploaded the wrong chapter at first, but now it's fixed!


**A/N: I finally saw this movie and I LOVED it! Voice acting, visuals, music, and over all culture was so authentic. Anyways, King Fergus is amazing and I hope this little fic gives a little more insight into his character. It takes place right after the end of the movie when all of the other clans have gone home.**

The king let out a mighty, relieved belch. His muscles ached dully from the mighty bear chase last night. He was not as young as he used to be, but he knew he could still face that scoundrel any day.

Then it hit him; Mor'du, the legendary demon bear who was known as his rival throughout the land was finally dead. He actually felt a tiny pang of remourse for the brutish dobber. He hoped he could rely on some of his other stories to entertain his fellow men, and not just become some has-been. What was even more unexpected than the bear being dead was that the beast was not even bested by him, but by his wife! Of cousrse, he would have only been mildly surprised if it was by his daughter Merida, who had a fighting spirit perhaps just as mighty as his had been as a lad. Queen Elinor, though- the woman who never thought ladies should touch weapons and valued good manners as much as breathing? She was docile as a wee lamb, even though her words could sting worse than any sword. Still, words don't affect demon bears much. He stood on the bank and watched the sea, although the sun was setting and the ships had long since dissapeared into the horizon. He was a man of action, and he did not stop to think much, but when he did it was no bampot nonsense!

Of course, even more unexpected was that Elinor had been a bear herself at the time of Mor'du's death, which he supposed gave her more of a chance. The more King Fergus reflected on the fight, though, the more he realized that her victory was more helped by her cleverness and her fierce protectiveness of her children than being changed into a large beast. He gave a deep chuckle as he wondered if he just should have dangled Merida in front of Mor'du years ago and let Elinor end the rivalry long ago. He suddenly shook his head, ashamed of having such a dark sense of humor. While he certainly didn't understand that magic rubbish, there was no way he could say he didn't believe in it any more. That happens to a person after he sees a bear transform into his wife, hair flowing in the wind and wearing nothing but a tapestry. A dopey, dreamy look suddenly overcame him as he remembered and he suddenly felt like he was in that giddy honeymoon stage all over again.

His cheeks reddened a little and he began to hobble up the bank to his steed, hoping to find his lovely wife for a little date. He would have to make sure to tell her how much he liked her hair down.

A large grin was almost perpetually on King Fergus's face, but today it was so broad that his mighty mustache hairs tickled his ears a little bit. Even as an optimist, things had turned out better than he ever imagined. Even though he did not get to kill him, that bear was dead, his family was safe, the other clans were happy, and Merida was not married.

His shoulders tensed suddenly as he thought that. He made a mental note to not tell Elinor how relieved he was that their daughter was not interested in suitors yet. He couldn't blame her, with the fuddy duddy lads that the other clans had presented to her. He had not yet met a boy he thought was worthy of his daughter, but he just knew it wasn't them. He was amazed that the other clans left on good terms even without Merdia taking one of them for the future king. It was all because Meridia's powers of diplomacy and charisma, one of the few things her and Elinor always had in common.

Fergus clambered off his horse, finally back at the castle. He was just going to go get his bow to practice shooting, but what he saw when he flung the door open made him feel more like slashing things with swords.

His mouth fell open and his eyes darted around the room haphazardly, "BEARS! BEARS, EVERYWHERE! GADS, IS THIS SOME JOKE?"

All over the room there were wooden carved bears, in the form of every object imaginable. Bear cups, bear portraits, bear toys, ornaments, baubles, oodles and oodles of bears. Fergus's wooden leg clomped forward towards the closet and he used his other foot to clear the bear paraphenalia out of his way. He muttered things like, "Rubbish...swords...so bloody tired of bears..."

As he opened the closet expecting to find his swords in his right place, he instead heard a huge wood clanking sound as hundreds of little bear sculptures piled all around him. His face fell flat until he turned at the sound of a familiar giggle.

There he saw Meridia, hiding behind a wooden throne crafted to somehow look like a bear as well. The corners of her mouth twitched as she tried not to burst out laughing and her red tendrils quivered.

Suddenly Fergus looked around him and finally took in the oddity of the whole situation. The father and daughter barked out laughter simultaneously. They cluthced their sides and every time they were about to stop laughing, they either looked at a new bizarre piece of bear art or just made eye contact, which seemed to start the whole joke over again.

Several minutes later, as they flopped on the ground and wiped the tears from the corners of their eyes, Fergus finally asked, "Meridia, where in the world did'ja get all these bloody bears?"

"Um, I kind of had to buy them for the witch to give me the spell for mom." she said slowly, darting her eyes away and looking at the mess before them.

The king looked around the room skeptically and cocked an eye brow, "So, yeh had teh buy all of these...and you were_ surprised _theh old ninny bat turned yer mom into a bear?"

"Well, when you put it that way, you make it sound like I was being an impulsive numpty!" she said, as she rolled her eyes.

Fergus smiled and pulled his daughter close, "Aye, impulsive, but you're no numpty! You were following your instincts, and that's what you and I do, Meridia. That's why you'll be a great leader."

Meridia squeezed her father around his expansive midsection and said, "Thank you, Dad. I just have to be sure to follow the right instincts."

"Aye, a good point lass. I can honestly say, from how things turned out, that I'm glad your mom was a bear was a bear for a wee bit. Just don't go seeking out any more witches."

Merdia laughed softly, "I don't plan on it, Dad, but thank you for the advice!" She smiled, but read the small mood he was trying to hide, "Dad, what's wrong?"

"What? Nothing, lass!" he said quickly, his voice rasing very slightly in pitch.

"Dad." said Meridia sternly, placing her hands on her hips and waiting for him to speak. He rolled his eyes, perplexed how both him and Elinor, as tiny as they were, could make him do whatever they wanted.

"Alright, I'll tell ya! You're goin' teh think I'm a dunderhead, though!" His shoulders sloped a little sadly.

"Dad, I've watched you win hundreds of pub brawls, and still rule your kingdom justly with the bruises and hangovers in the mornings. That's quite a feat, so I don't think anything could make me see you as less than great."

He puffed out his chest a little from her praise and then looked around at the wooden bears. He felt they were all mocking him.

"I think I just came to depend on that little Mor'du story too much."

"Well, maybe a wee bit." consented Meridia with a shrug.

Fergus started to pace around the room as he continued, "Fer years I would rant 'Oh, I will avenge my leg!' Then, every single one of them sees yer mom defeat him and all of a sudden I'm just a peg leg man with a story about an dead bear. What if they don't respect me any more?"

"What about all your war stories, Dad? You're a hero."

"Well, thank you, lass. None of those stories get the crowd riled up as much as my scuff with Mor'du did, though."

Meridia sighed, trying not to laugh. It was a little funny to her that her dad never understood that after the 20th time he told the story they were all just humoring him. They respected him because of who he was, not because of some scuffle in a forest he had when she was a little kid. Knowing he would never listen to that, though, she suggested something different.

"I have a feeling they will. Just in case, what do you say we go off into the forest for a few days and make some new stories? There's got to be some fun adventure out there."

Fergus beamed. It sounded like a brilliant idea, but what made him happiest was that Meridia had faith that he still had it in him to make new stories at his age. "Aye, let's do that."

"Great! But first, we should warm up by using all these creepy bears for target practice!" Within seconds, Meridia had drawn her bow, strung an arrow, and landed it dead center in a wooden bear's forehead.

"Well, maybe just one." said Fergus bashfully, before drawing his sword and slashing multiple times against a statue of a huge grizzly while yelling "ARGHHH!"

Soon an all out brawl had erupted between the petrified bears and the father and daughter. Fergus had never fought an entire room full of bears, and it was loads of fun even though they were fake.

Many destroyed and damaged bear art pieces later, the two sloped against each other, sweating and breathing hard. Fergus said "So, no more spells, but we might have to order more bear sculptures some time from that witch hag yeh know."

Meridia nodded as she caught her breath, "Aye, just don't tell her what we do with them or she might turn us into stew."

They both gave feeble, tired laughs and then popped back up to destroy more bear art before dinner.


End file.
